Piracy of direct broadcast satellite (DBS) and other broadcast television signals is an ongoing problem. As smart card devices have become more powerful and secure, signal pirates have evolved to more complicated schemes to steal satellite programming. One common scheme in current use involves a pirate paying for one legitimate subscription to the pirated service and using that subscription to siphon security codes that can be sent to other non-paying users, typically as an Internet key service (IKS). Participants in the IKS, in turn, typically use a “free to air” (FTA) satellite receiver device that is not subscribed to paid programming, so it does not descramble programming on its own. By receiving control words (CW) over the Internet, however, the unauthorized user may be able to descramble received satellite signals for which he or she has not paid.
It is therefore desirable to create systems and methods to detect the sources of pirated satellite signals so that freeloading can be prevented. These and other desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background section.